2022 Big West Women's Basketball Schedule | Standings | Stats | Week 1 Notes (.pdf)
What 2 Watch 4
The 2022-23 Big West women’s basketball season begins this Monday, Nov. 7, with seven of 11 teams around the league contesting openers.
UC Davis is first up, tipping off at home against Bethel College, an NAIA program out of North Newton, Kan., at 11 a.m. on ESPN+.
Two games in Riverside that afternoon feature UC Riverside versus Pacific and UC San Diego at California Baptist. UC Santa Barbara is in the Bay Area to play Santa Clara at 4 p.m.
Three Big West squads are on the road at Pac-12 Conference schools. CSUN is in Berkeley to take on California at 4 p.m. The Shanele Stires era gets underway at Cal Poly as the Mustangs face UCLA inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Reigning Big West regular-season and tournament champion Hawai’i, the favorite to repeat, is up in the Pacific Northwest at Oregon State. Both of those games tip off at 5:30 p.m. PT. The Bears, Bruins and Beavers were voted 11th, fourth and sixth, respectively, in both their league’s coaches’ and media preseason polls.
On Tuesday night, 2021-22 Big West Championship finalist UC Irvine is in home action against NCAA Division III outfit Whittier at 6 p.m. on ESPN+, and CSU Bakersfield pays USC and the Galen Center a visit. The Women of Troy were picked ninth in the Pac-12 listings.
There are two more contests on Wednesday night, highlighted by CSUN’s game at powerhouse Stanford, the Pac-12 defending champion and preseason favorite. Hawai’i remains on the mainland at Portland.
The final two Big West sides to start their 2022-23 campaigns are Long Beach State on Thursday, Nov. 10, at West Coast Conference favorite Gonzaga, and Cal State Fullerton the next night at Santa Clara.
Check listings to see which of the week’s 23 games will air on ESPN+.
Preseason Prognostications
Hawai’i, the 2021-22 Big West regular-season and championship victor, is the favorite to repeat following the annual preseason poll conducted by the league’s 11 head coaches and announced Oct. 20.
The Rainbow Wahine picked up nine of the 11 first-place votes for a total of 99 points. UC Santa Barbara follows in second with 84 points and the remaining two first-place nods. Long Beach State (73), UC San Diego (72) and UC Davis (71) are grouped together closely in third through fifth.
The coaches’ preseason All-Big West Team consists of Hawai’i transfer and reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Lily Wahinekapu, Ila Lane of UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego duo Sydney Brown and Julia Macabuhay, Evanne Turner of UC Davis, and CSUN’s Tess Amundsen.
2021-22 Postseason Rewind
A trio of Big West squads found themselves dancing into the postseason.
Regular-season and Championship victors Hawai’i drew the daunting task of taking on No. 2 seeded Baylor in the Wichita Region. Hanging tough for the first 20 minutes and down nine at the break, the Rainbow Wahine eventually succumbed, 89-49, in Waco.
The Hercules Tires Big West Women’s Basketball Championship finalist and regular-season runner-up UC Irvine was joined by Long Beach State among the 64-team 2022 Postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) field.
Both taking on Pac-12 foes on the road, the Beach fell at Oregon State, 70-59, while UC Irvine dropped its first-round contest at UCLA, 61-48.
|
|